National Basketball Association

Can anyone stop Phoenix Suns in the playoffs?

Published Mar. 25, 2022 2:59 p.m. ET

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"There's people playing with my name."

Devin Booker looked like a man on a mission during his Suns' Thursday night matchup against the Denver Nuggets.

And if his mission was to dominate, he did so convincingly, erupting for a season-high 49 points in a display of scoring eminence.

The Suns won the matchup 140-130, moving to 60-14 on the season and extending their lead in a division they've long clinched. Booker meanwhile, added 10 assists to his brilliant stat-line, while Chris Paul posted 17 points and 13 assists in his return from injury.

Phoenix is going to be the Western Conference's top seed in the upcoming playoffs, and most basketball analysts have the Suns projected to at least make a Western Conference finals appearance. They've had the NBA's best record by far since 2020's bubble, and have sent two representatives to two consecutive All-Star games. Head coach Monty Williams, meanwhile, was the NABC Coach of the Year in 2021 according to his peers, while the squad came up just short of hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy in last year's Finals.

So why do they believe they still have something to prove? 

"The main objective is to win basketball games, and they've been telling me that since I was 18 or 19," Booker said.

"Now that we have 1-seed locked up, been winning basketball games for two years straight now, this team needs some flowers. … There's just so much that I feel like doesn't get talked about on this team, and we've done a good job of not worrying about what people say about us, but it needs some recognition. I'm the type to see anything and take it as disrespect."

His response to an inquiry regarding whether he should be in the MVP conversation was simple and straight: "Yeah."

Booker's going to continue playing with a chip on his shoulder, while the return of his backcourt mate makes Phoenix a much more efficient group on both ends. Deandre Ayton dropped a career-high 35 points in a recent game, while Mikal Bridges' name is among those mentioned in the Defensive Player of the Year race.

This team is good and appears to be hungrier than it's ever been. So can anyone in the West stop Phoenix from making a repeat trip to the Finals?

Negative, says Chris Broussard, who added that no one in the East can stop the troupe either.

"Nobody in FIBA, nobody in the Rucker, nobody anywhere is beating this team," Broussard declared Friday on "First Things First."

"They are on a mission, nobody is going to stop them. They've got a legit Big 3 that fits together. That's important, cause some Big 3s don't fit, as we're seeing with the Lakers. Booker is your scorer, Chris Paul is your orchestrator, and Deandre Ayton is the big man that mans the paint. They've got great role players that know and like their role. They've got arguably the best coach in Monty Williams. Best home record, best road record, best record against teams with winning records by a mile. They've got the highest-scoring offense in the league and a top-three defense. What's not to like?"

Can anyone stop the Phoenix Suns?

Chris Broussard is calling it. After defeating the Denver Nuggets in spectacular fashion, Broussard declares the Phoenix Suns the NBA's title favorites.

Nick Wright, though, doesn't see Phoenix making it past the second round.

"The Suns remind me of the mid-2000s Detroit Pistons," Wright said.

"[That] team that won a title, then the very next year was back in a Game 7, the very next year was back in the conference finals, and the next year were huge favorites to go back to the NBA Finals, until a 22-year-old from Akron, Ohio, without a lot of good teammates around him, stole their soul."

"And that's what's going to happen to the Phoenix Suns when they play the best player currently in the Western Conference, Luka Doncic, in Round 2. Doncic has the same number of 40-point playoff games as Larry Bird and Giannis [Antetokounmpo]."

"And for the first time in his career, he's going to be playing in a postseason where you don't have two of the best wing defenders, Kawhi and Paul George, guarding him. I see an arc for a Mavs team that since Christmas, has the third-best record in basketball, and has been better against the best teams than any team other than Boston, to make their official arrival. I think the Mavs beat the Suns."

Doncic, and any other superstar, will certainly have their work cut out for them against this squad.

Phoenix is well on pace to smash its best record in franchise history (62-20 in both 2005 and 1993) and currently leads the NBA in field goal percentage (48.8%), net rating (+8.4), and fourth-quarter offensive rating (117.9). The team also has two of the three longest winning streaks across the association this year, with separate stretches of 18 and 11 consecutive wins.

The Suns haven't shown any signs of slowing down yet, and for this group, the mission won't be complete until it can call itself the NBA's champion.

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Phoenix Suns

National Basketball Association

Luka Doncic

Devin Booker

Chris Paul

NBA - Phoenix Suns vs. Denver Nuggets - 03/25/2022

Dallas Mavericks

Deandre Ayton

Chris Broussard

Nick Wright

First Things First